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Spring Showcase Director #1: Sabrina Weisz

As a director, Sabrina Weisz has a keen awareness for exactly what a writer had in mind when she wrote a script. Maybe that’s because Weisz is also a writer, and an actor. Like many ladies in the industry, she needed to be everything to survive with limited roles, but now she gets to enjoy the autonomy of that necessity. In our Spring Showcase, Weisz is directing Becky Thyre‘s hilarious absurdist comedy, SANDBOX. With a cast of 5 and a mile-per-minute dialogue, Weisz has her work cut out for her, and we are balls-to-the-wall excited to see this play.

Here’s some words of wisdom from Weisz herself.

1. What are the top 3 movies/plays that have inspired you?

This is so hard because I have been inspired by almost every one I have seen in one way or another. Even the bad ones were a lesson in what doesn’t work. Here are the first three that come to mind.

1) OUT OF AFRICA: Beautiful to look at and a story perfectly told. It also speaks to me as a woman who has always wanted “something of her own.” It’s a feminist story told in a time when there was no such thing.

2) RAISING ARIZONA: A Coen Brothers masterpiece. It’s beyond funny. It’s over-the-top characters feel more real than anyone you have ever met. It’s epic and simple at the same time.

3) DEATH OF A SALESMAN: I saw this show on Broadway when I was in High School. Up until that show, I didn’t know that live theater could have such a profound impact on its audience. I was forever changed by it.

2. Did you go to film school? What led you to being a writer/director?

I went to Loyola Marymount and spent my time there in the Television and Film Production department. I worked on dozens of student films there, both in front of and behind the camera, loving all of it equally. After graduation, I pursued my acting career but quickly became frustrated by the limited roles I was going up for. Writing and directing for the stage and the web was a lot more gratifying. I have always worn all three hats, sometimes at the same time.

3. Why do you personally want to collaborate with other women through One Axe?

I simply love the idea of a place that supports female artists. Most stories have been told through a male lens. As more and more women write and direct, we will get a wider, more truthful telling of the human experience.

4. “Where are you going, where have you been?”

I’ve been to Trader Joe’s, and now I am going home to make dinner for my kids… Oh, and I have also been a young girl trying to be what others thought she should be to get work. And, I am going to be a woman who doesn’t give a shit about what other people think of her.